The Ford Motor Company has identified a problem affecting certain 2022 and 2023 model year Mustang fastbacks and convertibles. According to Dearborn's favorite son, a steering torque sensor may not be calibrated properly, thus causing the steering wheel to unexpectedly turn side to side against the driver's intentions.
Nexteer Automotive is the supplier of the steering gear assembly, which is listed by the second-largest automaker of the Detroit Big Three under three part numbers. Ford also highlights that steering wheels may begin alternating clockwise and counterclockwise in the event the primary steering torque sensor experiences a problem.
As for the reason why the secondary steering torque sensor allows the electronic power steering gear to provide unintended steering assistance, that would be inverted polarity. Following a notification from the supplier over a steering gear assembly issue, Ford Motor Company started to investigate in May 2024.
A review of warranty reports unearthed two warranty claims potentially related to the recall condition. Thankfully, the automaker isn't aware of any reports of accident or worse. Dealers nationwide will be instructed today, July 3, to update the power steering control module with software that calibrates the secondary torque sensor to the correct polarity. LR3C-14D003-AC is Ford's part number for the software update.
Owners will be informed via first-class mail between August 5 and August 12. The automaker hasn’t provided any information on the affected Mustangs other than the model years (2022 and 2023) and production dates (September 15, 2022 through April 5, 2023). It should be noted that 2022 was the final year of the S550-gen Shelby GT500, whereas 2023 represented the ninth and final model year of the sixth-gen Mustang.
Photo: Ford
A grand total of 30,735 units are recalled under campaign 24V-493 in NHTSA talk or 24S44 in Ford vernacular. Excluding the mechanically different Mustang Mach-E crossover utility vehicle, the Mustang sold 48,605 examples of the breed in the US in 2023 and 47,566 in 2022.
Looking back, the S550 was a tremendous departure from the fifth generation due to independent rear suspension across the board. It should be noted that Mustang received independent rear suspension much earlier, but to a lesser degree. Remember the SVT Cobra? Yeah, that bad-boy 'Stang returned came with IRS for the 1999 through 2004 model years, when the SVT Cobra featured Modular V8 motors.
Go-faster Mustangs from the S550 family include the flat-plane crankshaft V8-engined Shelby GT350, which is a manual-only affair, and the supercharged V8-engined Shelby GT500. The latter was Ford's most powerful series-production car until the S650-gen Mustang GTD showed up with over 800 ponies to its name from a development of the GT500's Predator V8.
Still, the Mustang GTD can hardly be considered a series-production car. Not only did FoMoCo task Multimatic to assemble it over in Canada, but it's a carbon-bodied thriller with no trunk space whatsoever due to racing-style pushrod suspension featuring transversely mounted Multimatic Adaptive Spool Valve shocks.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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